1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to interactive radio and specifically the use of smartphone software and hardware to enable interactive radio inside an automobile.
2. Prior Art US Patent
Radio listening in an automobile is currently a non interactive experience. This is because radio receivers that are installed in automobiles can only receive broadcast audio content from radio stations and play the content through a set of speakers in the automobile. Radio receivers do not provide the capability for users to interact with audio content.
Interactive radio enables listeners to interact with audio content being broadcasted. Interaction with audio content could be viewed as one of the several functionalities including, ability to copy desired content for later use, ability to use segments of content as bookmarks to enable lookup of stored content at a later time, ability to retrieve related information from servers based on segments of content, ability to setup communication channels with other listeners who have a common interest, ability to use segments of audio content to initiate electronic commerce activities and ability to use audio content as ring tones.
Audio content interaction can be provided using communication technology such as a cellular phone that can inter work with an automobile audio system. This may be achieved by using a cellular phone that is integrated with an automobile or a cellular phone that is separate from the automobile.
Integrated cellular phones suffer from several limitations. Some automobiles have integrated cellular phones that may be used to provide parts of the above mentioned interaction capabilities. But integration of cellular phones with automobiles has proven to be impractical as cellular phone technology has advanced at a much faster rate than the rate at which people replace their automobiles. People prefer using latest cellular phone technology when available, and having an integrated cellular phone with an automobile that uses an older cellular phone technology is not a preferred option. Hence it can be seen that most automobiles do not provide an integrated cellular phone as a standard option. So depending on an integrated cellular phone to provide audio interaction capability is not practical.
Other methods of inter working cellular phones with automobile audio systems to provide audio interaction also suffer from limitations. Some automobiles provide a bluetooth interface to cellular phones, but most bluetooth profiles only allow transferring content from cellular phones to the speakers of an automobile. There is no profile to transfer content from a radio broadcast that is received by a radio receiver in an automobile into the cellular phone so that software in the cellular phone can interact with broadcast audio content.
Some automobiles provide audio input capability to transfer content from cellular phones into the audio system of an automobile, but this is still a one way transfer and hence not sufficient to provide the above mentioned interaction as that would need access to the broadcast audio content.
In order to provide all of the above mentioned interaction capabilities, it is necessary to have a two way communication between an automobile system and a cellular phone. But such a requirement is not a part of any communication standard including Bluetooth and hence these would have to be implemented using proprietary mechanisms that will only serve a niche market.
Hence it can be seen that there is no solution that provides the above mentioned interactivity that leverages the latest cellular technology and works across all automobiles old and new.
Currently there are no known prior art methods that offer a solution to this problem.
Following paragraphs in current section describe relevant prior arts in this field.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,628,928 describes a system where a listener can ask for more information about audio content using an email. But this does not provide the ability to transfer information from the audio system into a cellular phone or enable a cellular phone to use its software on the audio content. Also, this prior art only provides a minimal form of asynchronous interaction and not real time interaction.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 7,280,079 describes a method to improve antenna efficiency to improve the receiver state. This does not address the above mentioned interaction capability.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 7,110,720 describes a method to receive digital information and transmit it using analog frequency modulated signal. But this does not address the needs of an interactive radio system that provides interactivity with broadcast audio content that is either analog or digital.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 6,928,308 describes a mobile phone that is able to detect which frequency modulated (FM) channel a radio receiver is tuned to. This is done by transmitting a signature signal repeatedly in multiple channels and listening to the audio and detecting the equivalent audio signature. This enables a cellular phone to automatically tune to a frequency that an automobile audio system is tuned to. But this does not address the needs of the above mentioned interactive radio system. This only provides a method where audio information may be transferred from a cellular phone into the automobile audio system but not the other way around.
Prior art US Doc 20080051918 describes a hardware chip design that provides an ability to receive and transmit radio signals using a single chip design. But this does not address the needs of an interactive radio system.
The company, Nokia describes a visual radio system where radio listening experience is enhanced using an alternative data feed that enables a user to see additional information related to the audio content that is being broadcast. But this does not address the problem of interactivity with audio content inside an automobile.
There are some mobile phones that offer receiving a frequency modulated signal (FM) and transmit FM signals. But the reception and transmission cannot be done simultaneously. Reception is used to hear broadcast music, and transmission is used to transmit stored digital audio content. For the above mentioned interactivity an ability to receive, enhance and retransmit the same signal is needed.
As can be seen from above, all known prior arts suffer from some limitations in offering a solution to address the need for an interactive radio system in an automobile.
3. Objects and Advantages
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:                a) to provide an interactive radio system that works in any automobile;        b) to provide an interactive radio system that enables a user to have access to broadcast audio content in a mobile phone and modify the content if necessary and then transfer such modified content from the mobile phone into the audio system of an automobile in real time; and        c) to provide an interactive radio system that enables use of mobile device software to interact with audio content.        